Joe Hamilton (basketball)

Joe Hamilton
Personal information
Born	July 5, 1948 (age 76); Lexington, Kentucky
Nationality	American
Listed height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Listed weight	160 lb (73 kg)
Career information
High school	Dunbar (Lexington, Kentucky)
College	Christian Coll. of the Southwest (1966–1968); North Texas (1968–1970);
NBA draft	1970: 9th round, 152nd overall pick
	Selected by the Milwaukee Bucks
Playing career	1970–1975
Position	Point guard
Number	11, 3, 12, 10
Career history
1970–1974	Texas/Dallas Chaparrals / San Antonio Spurs
1974	Kentucky Colonels
1975	Munich Eagles
1975	Utah Stars
Career highlights and awards
	ABA All-Rookie Team (1971); 2× First-team All-MVC (1969, 1970);
	Stats at Basketball Reference

James "Joe" Hamilton Jr. (born July 5, 1948) is an American former professional basketball player.

College career

Hamilton played high school basketball at Dunbar (Lexington, Kentucky) where he was an All-American.

He played collegiately at Christian College of the Southwest (Garland, Texas), where he was a two-time Junior College All American. He was also an alternate on the United States team for the 1968 Olympics. He transferred to North Texas State in 1968 and was a two-time All-Missouri Valley Conference Player.

Professional career

Hamilton was selected in the ninth round (152 overall) of the 1970 NBA draft by the Milwaukee Bucks. He was also picked in the fourth round of the 1970 American Basketball Association Draft by the Texas Chaparrals and signed with the ABA team. He scored 1,318 points in 84 games (15.7 points per game) during the 1970–71 ABA season and made the ABA All-Rookie team. He stayed with the team for the next three seasons (as it became the Dallas Chaparrals and then San Antonio Spurs). He next played for the Kentucky Colonels but was cut 9 games into the 1974–75 season. Though he was contacted by his former Spurs coach Tom Nissalke to rejoin the team, Nissalke was fired soon after. He was then offered a minimum salary contract by the Memphis Sounds but the ABA veteran turned it down.^[1]

He instead played for the Munich Eagles of the European Professional Basketball League. Though he was the league top scorer with 24 points per game (along with a league second-best 4 assists), the league folded in April 1975 with Hamilton still owed part of his salary.^[1]^[2] He was signed by Nissalke, now coach of the Utah Stars, in late 1975 but was traded ten days later to the newly formed Baltimore Claws. The Claws reportedly ran out of money (with Hamilton stating the players "couldn't even get meal money") and folded three days before the 1975–76 ABA season. He returned to the Utah Stars and played the start of the season with them. However the Stars would themselves fold in December 1975. After these bad breaks, Hamilton retired from basketball at 27 to work as district salesman for a basketball shoe manufacturer in Chicago. The married father of two preferred the security of a stable job over an offer to play in the semi-pro Eastern League.^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Overpeck, Keith (January 21, 1976). "Wrong place, wrong time". The Courier-Journal. Retrieved November 25, 2017 – via Newspapers.com. (subscription required)
^ Maleval, Jean-Jacques (April 16, 1975). "Professionnalisme européen – Go home!" [European professionalism – Go home!] (PDF). L'Équipe basket hebdomadaire (in French). Vol. 31. pp. 8–9. Retrieved November 25, 2017.

[Wrong-1] Overpeck, Keith (January 21, 1976). "Wrong place, wrong time". The Courier-Journal. Retrieved November 25, 2017 – via Newspapers.com. (subscription required)

[2] Maleval, Jean-Jacques (April 16, 1975). "Professionnalisme européen – Go home!" [European professionalism – Go home!] (PDF). L'Équipe basket hebdomadaire (in French). Vol. 31. pp. 8–9. Retrieved November 25, 2017.

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[2]